Seven Devils
by xohearted12
Summary: For tonight, Steve was going to be the friend she needed him to be.


Hello, again! Honestly, I have absolutely no idea where this came from. It's so random, but I think I like it. There are probably some mistakes. I'm not perfect, but let me know what you think and please enjoy!

…..

**pairing:** steve/kono

**show:** hawaii five-0

**genre:** hurt/comfort/slight romance

**disclaimer:** sadly, these characters do not belong to me.

She wasn't sure how it happened exactly.

It had not been a good day at all. It had been a horrible day. Truthfully, it had been one of the worst days she could remember having in months. One minute, she was fine. But in the next, Kono felt as if she had fallen off of the nearest cliff.

Work had been crazy and hectic but, considering her job description, nothing too unreasonable. The hours of the day seemed to drag on, each feeling longer that the last. After lunch came and passed, Kono could feel herself growing more and more impatient as the pile of papers on her desk continued to grow. Each filled with different names and different details from the several cases the team had worked on. Details that quickly blurred into those from the next case. She couldn't focus on anything. She really tried to, but with no success. But, her attempts to hide it from the guys were. They didn't need to know. She could handle this.

Once the time finally arrived, Kono turned off her computer, made her way out to her car, and left the parking lot without breaking down. After a longer than necessary drive, her car pulled into her drive way. The next few seconds turned into a haze. She could feel her legs moving, but couldn't motivate her brain to think. At some point, she watched as her hand reached forward, turning the doorknob of her front door. She couldn't even remember pulling out her keys.

Her motions were slow and unstable as she moved through the apartment. The mess remaining in the kitchen from the night before was the last thought on her mind. It could wait for another time. A time where she didn't feel like she might cry at any moment. She didn't care what it looked like. No one important was coming to see her anyway. She was alone for the night and the thought scared her.

Her feet climbed the stairs as her hands frantically reached for her clothing, desperately trying to remove it from her skin. She could feel it growing hot and sweaty with each step. Before she even realized what she was doing, the shower door was open and she was stepping inside. The cold water splashed onto her face with such intensity, Kono could feel her skin begin to sting, but that was all she felt. Water streamed down her cheeks, but she was positive that it was not tears. Everything inside of her felt numb and empty. She barely had the energy to stand, let alone the energy it took to cry.

The water quickly lost its intended effect as her frantic and puzzled thoughts returned at full force. And she finally realized why she was feeling the way she was. It had been seven years since the last time she had taken a pill and she was proud of that. But, today, she was tempted.

To her, a former addict, that amount of time seems like a lifetime. An eternity of struggle. Waking up everyday brought a new fear that she wouldn't be strong enough to resist the desire burning in her chest.

Most days she didn't think about the pills. Since joining Five-0, almost two years before, her career as a cop had quickly taken priority in her life. She didn't have any time to think about anything other than catching the criminals and ensuring that they rot in a jail cell for the remainder of their life. Another reason she forced herself not to think about taking them was because of memories of her past. They were very real and they made her painfully aware of the control the pills had once had over her.

Her dependency on them first started following her knee injury. The injury that had stolen her dream, and her innocence, was one of the most difficult times in her life. Not only because it meant that she could no longer surf, but because of the lack of strength she had following it.

Quickly and without much notice, her world became one huge hole that she couldn't find an escape from. She tried, but nothing helped. Well, that's not the entire truth. Not helped _except _for the medicine. It helped a lot. A lot more than she was willing to admit to anyone. If she were being honest, Kono would admit that there were days where she honestly wondered what it would feel like to open a bottle again. Just one more time. Would it feel the same? Would it make her feel better? The way it once had? There were some days where she was tempted to find out.

The shower didn't last long at all. Just a few minutes. She grabbed the closest towel in the room before slipping on a bra and a pair of underwear. Thinking about the energy it would have required her to use in order to find actual clothing didn't really seem worth it. The muscles in her arms were aching as she adjusted the strap of her black bra. Her body felt numb. A piece of her already felt dead, while the other felt like someone had set her insides on fire. A flame had been set loose and she couldn't contain it. It had been inside of her for seven years, burning hotter in her moments of weakness, even though they had grown less common than the more frequent good days she did have.

Kono sat on her bathroom floor for a while. Her fingers tapped the cold tile in a repetitive manner, the sound becoming loud and distracting, but it was exactly what she needed to stop her weak thoughts. It took everything in her power to try and ignore the fact that an entire bottle of painkillers were sitting in the medicine cabinet just above her head. Only a few feet away. All she had to do was stand up and reach for them.

No! She couldn't think about it. _Seven years_, she reminded herself. _Think about all of the pain you've endured and time spent. You've made it this far. You have made so much progress. Don't turn back on that now. _

Her foot started to shake as the medicine refused to be forgotten. She really tried to think about something else, anything else, but it was no use. A shaky sigh escaped her mouth as she rose to her feet. Her unsteady legs were slow to support her weight, but she soon found herself faced with her own reflection in the mirror. Her hair was soaked. It was the first thing she noticed. Small droplets of water dripped down her neck and down to her collarbone as she stood. Kono stared at the mirror, at herself, for a long while, realizing that she would forever be vulnerable to this disease.

It was a word that she had always been hesitant to use. It never really did a sufficient job of describing her experiences. A disease is something that is treated after a person shows symptoms of it. Following the accident, the reason she had turned to the pills was because she was too weak to look anywhere. This daily struggle she endured was not a disease. Some liked to call it that, but Kono felt differently. She never would have been in this position if she had just managed to stay strong seven years before. She had done this to herself. She had caused this pain. Her dependence on those pills had started as a weakness and her countless attempts to overcome it had failed.

Her hand reached out in front of her, successfully opening the door to the medicine cabinet. Kono felt a sense of relief once she realized that she no longer had the ability to watch her actions in a mirror. The shame she felt was enough. Her arm moved forward to touch the bottle, but she immediately pulled it back, resting it on top of the counter instead.

The bottle had never been open before. It stayed sealed in her bathroom, waiting for a weak moment like this this one to inevitably come. It was stupid of her to even think about keeping medication from a previous injury. What was she thinking? She had endured several injuries since meeting Steve McGarrett, only a few weeks before her graduation from the academy. She couldn't be sure which injury had put this very bottle in her grasp. There had been too many to count. Each time it was a struggle. The temptations were always there. Every single time, but she forced herself not to lose track of all the work she had put in to make where she was now. A little pain was a minimal price to pay if it were to mean never returning to the dark place she once existed in.

Kono wondered if she had been testing herself by keeping the pills close by. Testing her determination and desire to never take them again. It had to be some kind of test. There was no other explanation. And of course, in this moment, she didn't want to have to be strong anymore. It wasn't in her nature to quit, she knew that, but somewhere she had lost the will to fight the problem she once created. It terrified her that she didn't seem to care as much as she once had about staying clean. That realization would only bring trouble. She was almost positive of that.

Suddenly, her armed stretched in front of her again. Unlike the last time, her fingers were able to pull the bottle from its shelf, pulling them towards her chest. For just a moment, she hesitated to twist the cap. It was a small moment, hardly noticeable, when the smallest part of her brain, the one thinking the rational thoughts, forcing her to think about what would happen after this. After she allowed her to win. Again. But, of course, the moment passed and she found herself staring directly down at her greatest fear.

How could it be possible that these small white pills were stronger than her? It just doesn't make any sense to her. Even after all this time. She could take on some of the most dangerous people on this island, but yet this medicine had beaten her. Sadly, it had become the reality of her existence since she was seventeen years old.

Her breath burned the lining of her throat as it made its way up and out of her nose and mouth. The breaths were short and heavy, a growing pain increasing with each one she released. Her body grew still and tense as a series of sobs racked through her body. The tears formed and rolled down her check as her now shaking hands grasped the bottle. The movement caused the pills to hit each other, making a clicking sound in the process. Her knees buckled beneath her and her forearm took its place, resting on the rim of the sink as her forehead made contact with the palm of her left hand. At the same time, her fingers quickly loosening their hold on the bottle, releasing it from her grasp. Almost instantly, her ears recognized the sound of the pills falling into the sink.

Kono reluctantly lifted her head to confirm the sound, but she couldn't bring her self to look. Her hands were shaking rapidly now. She couldn't find the strength to control it. But, then again, that seemed to be a running theme for her today. Nothing was in her control. She had lost all power. Suddenly, her body crumbled to the ground as her sobs grew stronger. Her ability to breathe became difficult once she felt her chest start to tighten from the anxious feeling she was now a victim of.

Her eyes found the form of her pants lying in front of the bathtub, having been thrown there only a few minutes before. Her eyes noticed the slight bulge of her cell phone in the back pocket, and without thinking, Kono reached for it. The cell phone rested like a weight in her palm for a while. She didn't know what she was waiting for. Maybe it was some kind of sign she wanted. Maybe she wanted to see if the phone would ring, to see if someone would call her first, aware of what she was thinking about. The waiting didn't last long though. Kono couldn't wait. The fear of what she might do was too much to handle.

The tears continued to stain her cheek as her fingers absentmindedly dialed Steve's phone number. She could have called anyone. Her parents. Chin. Even Danny was an option at this point. She was practically related to half of the island's population, but she had made the decision to call her boss. Actually, it wasn't a decision. It was more of something inside telling her this is what she needed. She did not have a clue why, but she needed him. She couldn't be alone. Especially not tonight.

"Hello?" He asked after answering. It was obvious that he had been sleeping before her call, the exhaustion of the day evident in his voice.

"Steve?" She paused, her voice shaky, even to her own ears. "I need you."

There was a brief silence before he replied. "I'll be right there." Steve said without any questions asked.

Once she realized that he had already ended the call, Kono closed her phone and stared at it. She swallowed the lump in her throat before pulling her knees close to her chest. It would only take Steve ten minutes to arrive. She could survive those next ten minutes without doing something stupid or something she would regret in the morning, At least she hoped she could. Silently, Kono was hoping that Steve did not choose today to follow the speed limit laws.

….

Steve's didn't think he could push the gas pedal down any farther. The white lines of the road blended together as his vehicle raced down it. He watched the clock in the truck, centered in between the two seats, minutes disappearing quickly. Five minutes had passed since Kono called him, he realized. He did not have any idea why she had called in the first place, but it had to important. It had just passed midnight and she had called him. The tone in her voice on the phone was full of pain and desperation. He didn't need to ask any questions. Something was wrong. He could feel it in his gut.

He could hardly remember parking his truck once it had stopped in front of her apartment building. He also couldn't recall closing the door behind himself either. He did just that before quickly taking off towards the stairs, tackling two at a time. Steve wasn't entirely sure of what he might find once he found her. He still didn't even know why she had called. None of it made sense. He traced the steps of the day, curious to see if she had shown any signs of something being wrong. Nothing. Absolutely nothing came to mind. He wondered what had changed in just a matter of hours?

Steve rushed towards the end of the hallway, knowing it would lead him to her bedroom, hoping he would find her there. He recognized the clothing lying on the ground as the outfit she had been wearing during work. A white shirt wrinkled under his boot as he walked over it. He could barely remember the last time he had been inside of her house. It had been months. Way before her IA investigation happened, but he had never been in her bedroom before. It was just one of those things that seemed off limits. Sure, there had always been a certain amount of attraction between them, a strange tension that confused them both.

He could feel a sheer panic set in once he saw the bright light radiating from her open bathroom door, making him aware of her current position. He turned the corner to find her sitting on the floor with an empty expression plastered on her face. In that moment, it didn't even occur to Steve that she was only wearing her underwear. She looked dazed, staring straight ahead at him, but not really seeing him. The look on her face, or lack of expression to be exact, terrified him. Steve was sure that he had never seen her look this broken before. It was devastating to witness. He lingered in the doorway for a moment, his shock paralyzing him in his position.

Steve couldn't believe his eyes. Kono was fragile and broken on the floor. It was stupid, but he always forced himself to believe that nothing could hurt her. She had always been the strong, fearless rookie the team had accepted. She kicked ass on a regular basis. It broke his heart to know that she could feel pain, but it obviously had. It looked to him that the entire world had just landed on her shoulders in a matter of hours since he had seen her last, successfully weighing her down in the process.

He rushed towards her, leaning down, touching her cheeks and forehead softly. Steve watched her carefully, afraid to touch her. There had been countless occasions where he had been the only one around when she needed some kind of medical treatment. He had found her with blood leaving a wound she had suffered on the job. He had been able to help her then. Why was he suddenly afraid to touch her, worried that she might break under his grasp? He noticed a flick of light enter her eyes, a sign that she had finally acknowledge his presence in the room.

Steve's legs straighten immediately, helping him to stand once he spotted the open orange bottle placed on the counter. The pills sitting in the sink took him by surprise as well. He wondered what she had done before he had arrived. He thought about the six minutes between the time she had called and the time he had found her. She was alone for six minutes and he knew that anything could have happened in that span of time. As if in one swift motion, he scooped the pills in his hand before walking over to the toilet and flushing them. Kono remained unfazed through it all. Steve grabbed the bottle again, harshly, and shoved it towards her face. It was unbelievable the amount of heat he could feel under skin, his blood boiling with anger.

He had a million questions. He wanted to know what she was thinking. What she feeling. Why he had been the person she choose to call. Everything about the situation confused him. Steve never thought about her struggling. He had enough of those for the entire team, plus ten. She was never supposed end up like him, lost and having no desire to be found, but she had called him. She was in trouble and she had called him. That was one more step than he had ever made.

"Did you take these?" He shouted at her. The empty look in her eyes returned. She didn't even seem to flinch at the intensity of his voice. "Kono!" Steve grabbed her arms, shaking her roughly, and the sound of desperation ringing in his voice. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had felt this level of fear. "Did you take these?" He repeated.

Steve watched as her eyes shifted from the bottle in his hand to his face, blinking in between. She shook her head a moment later and Steve instantly heard a heavy sigh escape his lips.

"Hey. You're okay." Steve cupped her cheeks in his palms, forcing her to look at him, speaking once he was sure that he had her attention. "I'm going to take care of you." He promised but wasn't sure if Kono had heard it or believed it for that matter.

….

After he had found her on her bathroom floor and promised to take care of her, Steve carried her towards the bed and rested her head on the pillow as gently as possible. She could remember looking up at him as he hovered over her fragile body, unsure of whether to say something. Kono could remember watching him as he stepped away from the bed. At the very sight, her stomach dropped. Obviously, there were times where she wanted Steve. To be with him. To make him happy, but it had never occurred to her, until that moment, just how much she actually needed Steve.

"Stay." She croaked.

Steve shifted on his heels as she spoke. "I'm going to grab you some clothes." He stated.

It was the last thing she could remember. Eventually, she had fallen asleep, allowing her exhaustion to take over and win. Her eyelids closed, shutting her off from the world she had become to weak to face. Finally, her racing thoughts seized, allowing her a moment to relax. She wasn't sure how long it had taken exactly for her to open her eyes again. Minutes, hours, days. She didn't have a clue at this point. Once she had done so, a sense of disappointment caused her muscles to ache. That feeling of vulnerability and weakness she had fallen asleep with was still present in her body, even when she tried to fight it. That desire in her stomach and the pain in her chest still overpowered the rational thoughts of her brain.

Her lungs pulled in a swift breath before she managed the strength to open her eyes slowly. The darkness outside her window caught her eye and it surprised her. She quickly realized that she hadn't actually been sleeping as long as she had originally thought. The neighborhood was quiet and peaceful, the world seemed content outside of the pain she was experiencing.

Her eyes stared straight above her, focusing on the panels of her ceiling fan as they turned quickly, pushing air throughout the room. A gust of wind passed over her and she wanted to shiver. Her arms were cold, but she couldn't seem to find the motivation to tell her brain to respond. Suddenly, she realized that a set of eyes were focused on her. Steve's eyes, to be exact. So full of intensity and utter confusion.

She could feel a heavy hand, his hand, resting at her side, reaching towards her. She tried to move away from it, but couldn't seem to find the strength she needed to shift her weight just an inch. That was all she needed. An inch. It would be enough to distance her body from his. The warmth from his arms instantly rushed over her, a comforting feeling considering her almost naked body was still exposed to the breeze from her fan. The stupidity of her actions suddenly hit her, crushing her chest. It was almost enough to make her lose the ability to suck in the air she so desperately needed. Steve was her boss and he had witnessed her in what had to be her weakest moment. She knew that he was going to need an explanation to help him make sense of what had walked in on.

"After my accident, I spent a lot of time in physical therapy." She started. The crushing weight on her chest felt heavier as the words registered in her ears. This story had been told by most of her family on several occasions and she was going to repeat once again. To Steve. Her boss. The man she may or may not have feelings for. "I went in for these sessions, they were supposed to be helping with my recovery, but I didn't see anything changing. It wasn't happening fast enough. I wasn't going to accept anything but a quick and complete recovery." She nodded, pulling in a shaky breath. Remembering that dark place of her life brought tears to her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.

Steve remained silent, listening to what she was telling him. As she spoke, he received answers to the questions he had thought about for hours.

"I wanted so badly to be the athlete I was before the accident. I wanted to be that professional surfer I was, because I was good. I was really good." Her voice faded as she moved her head to finally look at him again. To her surprise, he was watching her with a curious expression, clearly waiting for her to continue. "After a few months of the pain, I got desperate and frustrated."

The pain in her eyes horrified him. She looked completely devastated, ashamed of what she was admitting to him. He wasn't sure what she was going to say next, but he still waited.

"I started taking some painkillers. A lot of them. Too many. A lot more medication that I was supposed to." She revealed, her voice breaking in between several of the words. The tears forming in her eyes reminded her that this part of her life would always be with her. It would always be something she was ashamed of. Something she regretted. She cleared her throat before forcing herself to continue. "It really didn't start out as much, an extra pill or two, but I noticed that it made me feel better. But then things got really bad. I lost a bunch of weight. I drank too much. I got involved with all of the wrong people."

Steve sat beside in complete disbelief. Seven years, he did the math. How had he not known about this? He never had any idea of what she had gone through. Obviously, they had discussed her injury before, but it always been a sensitive topic for her. He just never realized how much so. Whenever it came up, she talked and laughed with them, but there always came a point where she shut down. It all made perfect sense. Now that he knew. A part of him blamed himself for never figuring it out. They were part of a team; they were supposed to be a family, ohana.

"In a matter of seconds, my dream was stolen and I went numb. I shut down and tried to escape for just a little while, and the pills helped me do that. They helped me escape."

Talking about her addiction was not something she normally did because it is a weakness that she would always have to deal with. For the rest of her life. And she wasn't sure that she would always be able to overcome it. It terrified her to think about ever picking up those pills again, but it would always be a very real possibility. She never wanted to be that person again. Those days of doubt and desire to open a bottle were never going to be her proudest moments, but they would forever be a part of her constant struggle to remain clean.

Steve wasn't sure of what to do next. She had chosen this moment to reveal her darkest secret, but he couldn't seem to say anything at all. He sat there, mouth-hanging open. What was he supposed to say?

"You never told me that." It was all he could come up with.

She shrugged. "There's a lot of things I never told you." She replied roughly without thinking or following the statement with any kind of explanation.

Her mind was racing, filled with thoughts of wanting Steve to pull her closer to his chest, while also trying to ignore the urge to swallow those pills she had forced herself to refuse. At some point, it all ended up becoming one huge mess of a night. Kono still couldn't figure out why she had contacted him out of everyone she knew, but it really didn't matter any longer. Steve was there, holding her, listening while she tried to contain her painful sobs.

Without looking at Steve, Kono pushed herself up, settling into a sitting position. The sudden lack of warmth beside her sent chills down her spin and up her arms. After taking a moment to look around, she noticed the bathroom door remained ajar and a pile of clothing was sitting at the end of her bed, waiting to be worn by someone. Her back was facing Steve as she used the silent moment to take in her surroundings. She felt a comforting hand on her back when she reached for the clothes. She looked over her shoulder with a small smile before pulling on the baggy shirt Steve must have taken out for her.

"I called you." She spoke as the soft fabric reached her hips. Her whisper was quiet enough to go unnoticed and she silently hoped that somehow it had been.

"You called me." Steve nodded, confirming her statement.

A part of her wanted to turn to face him. She needed to look him in the eyes and tell him that this didn't mean anything. Tomorrow, they would still be who they were before this. He was the Navy SEAL, her boss and she was still the rookie. This shouldn't change anything. She wanted to tell him so much, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the words herself.

"Why did you call me?" The question of the hour was finally asked, interrupting Kono's thoughts. Steve watched her shrug and lean forward, moving further away from him.

Her tongue tied in her mouth for a minute, unsure of what the best answer would be. He wanted to know, but she didn't have the answer that he needed. "Danny doesn't know," She started, but faltered. "He doesn't know." Kono repeated, hoping he understood what she was trying to say. "And I knew that he had Grace tonight." She reasoned, hoping to justify her reasons for not calling the man they were discussing. "And Chin, he was there when it first happened, when I first got addicted." Kono clarified before locking her eyes with his. "He was there when I got clean." Steve noticed that she was nervously playing with the ends of her still damp hair. Her hands were running over her skin and it wasn't just because she was cold. "He watched me graduate high school. I got to walk with my class a week after leaving rehab." She explained with a shrug.

Steve swallowed hard at the thought. Kono was seventeen when she injured her knee. At a time when most girls her age were worried about prom and colleges, she struggled with a drug addiction that had completely consumed her. It didn't seem fair. It also occurred to him just how much they had in common. Both of their childhoods had been cut short by very real adult problems. For him, the death of his mother and his enlistment in the Navy, and for her, an addiction that continued to have control over her actions.

When he thought about it, he really didn't know much about her injury, mainly because she never wanted to talk about it. He would ask Chin, but would never actually get any answers. Steve wondered if she had never injured her knee, would she still be a cop? He had seen the tapes. She was an amazing surfer. She was completely at ease when riding a wave, almost like she had been born to do just that. It was obvious that the injury was devastating for her, but what if it had never happened?

"I don't know." She stopped. "Sometimes I feel like I can't talk to him about it. When I do, he looks at me with such disappointment." Kono lowered her head, shaking it slowly.

Steve almost moved towards her, wanting to pull her into a hug, but wasn't sure if he was brave enough to see if she would pull away from him. He wanted to do everything in his power to make her feel better. As she hesitated with her next words, Steve wondered if him simply being there was even helping. He liked to think that listening would be enough to fix her. The thought was probably stupid, but it was a nice thought to have.

"He was disappointed in me. Disappointed in my choices." Kono continued. The pain in her voice was evident. Steve could tell that she was just as disappointed in herself, just as her older cousin had been. "He's disappointed in me and with everything else I have going on, I can't have my cousin looking at me like that." She smiled weakly. Steve watched it fade a second later.

It scared him to think about how little he actually knew about her. To him, she had always been one of the best rookies he had ever seen, and then, without any warning, she had all of these problems and issues he had never even known about. It made him wonder what had brought her to this point. This point of rock bottom. She had told him that she had first turned to pills because of her knee injury, but what had caused him to call him tonight. Why had she opened that bottle in the first place? There had to be a reason.

He hoped that she knew that, no matter what, he would always choose to protect her and keep her safe. In some ways, his relationship with Kono had become a comfort zone for him. For most of his life, he was required to pick a select group of people to trust. And it was for the simple reason of the kind of life he led. It was dangerous and not many people understood the many aspects of his career. But she did and always had. Danny had taken the role of his partner and friend and Chin had become the conscious of the team immediately, but Kono has always been the one that, out of all of them, reminded him the most of himself.

Whenever he needed someone to talk to, she listened, even though he really didn't do much talking. She always knew what to say at just the right moment. His friendship with her was something he enjoyed in the otherwise chaotic life he led. She was kind of like a light in the darkness, and now he learned that she herself had a bit of darkness inside of her.

As he sat on her bed, listening to her talk, it occurred to him just how horrible of a friend to her, by not knowing about her past addiction. But, her, it's not exactly the kind of question you routinely ask upon meeting someone for the first time. She was always there for him, and yet, there was still so much he had never known about this woman he had been working with for years. Steve wondered if she had struggled like this when her badge had been taken away. Or the day Chin had a bomb wrapped around his neck. Had she returned home that night and toyed with the idea of opening a bottle of pills.

Both were silent for a while. She didn't have the energy and he didn't have the words. Her back remained facing him as she stared towards the hallway leading out of her bedroom. She could feel Steve's eyes burning a hold in the back of her neck. The feeling made her crawl skin, making her even more uncomfortable than she already was. Kono's weight sifted the bed after she moved, resting her cheek on top of her knee, looking towards the window, refusing to make eye contact with him.

"Stop staring." Kono ordered weakly without making any effort to turn her head. "I promise I'm not going to run into the bathroom and take those pills while you're not looking." Steve stomach twisted as she laughed under her breath, a sound so full of sadness. It was almost enough to make him want to vomit. He felt the urge to laugh along with her, but could force himself to do so.

"I'm glad you called me." Steve revealed with a raise of his eyebrow.

Kono sighed in response. She moved off of the bed and onto her feet. Quickly, she pulled her hair into a ponytail, removing the strands from her shoulders, tying it off with the hair band she had around her wrist. She turned around the corner of the bed to stand at the foot of it. Her palms clutched the wood as she leaned forward and his intense eyes were instantly focused on her form.

"It usually doesn't get this bad." She felt like she needed to say.

"Okay." He nodded, his voice firm and steady. He straightened his back against the headboard, studying her.

"You believe me?" Her voice cracked at the question, in disbelief.

Steve raised his eyebrow out of pure confusion. He stayed silent for a moment and waited. He could see her hands shaking at her sides. She turned her head quickly, unable to look at him anymore. "I believe you." He confirmed. Her head remained turned almost as if she had not heard him. "Kono? Look at me." She did as he asked. "I believe you, Kono." Steve repeated sternly, hoping to convince her of the fact.

She swallowed. "Okay." The word was hard to hear in the distance between their bodies.

He watched as her eyes looked towards the open bathroom door. In that moment, he would have killed to know exactly what she was thinking. It would have made things so much easier for him to understand. Steve was aware that, just like him, Kono never seemed to say exactly what she was thinking. Her thoughts stayed hidden until they could not be contained any longer. She tried to stay strong for everyone else, never ready show her weaknesses, but she suffered for it. This night being a prime example of that.

"I don't know why I called you." She sat on the edge of the bed, looking forward and not directly at him. Her shoulders rose with a shrug before falling suddenly. A sigh could be heard once she finally looked at him. "I just didn't want to be alone."

They both knew it was more than that, but that conversation could wait for another night. For tonight, Steve was going to be the friend she needed him to be.

**The End. **

I've realized that I write a lot Kono in these horrible positions, and I'm sorry for that, but I hope you enjoyed this one.

And I promise that I am working on the next chapters for both "Signs Of Life" and "Static Waves". I'm really hoping that i'll have them up soon, but I won't make any guarantees. I've been thinking that after I finish up those stories, I might just stick to writing one-shots. I find inspiration for them much quicker and they are just easier for me to write. I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see. Thanks for reading!


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